Death & Company Interlude Three: Pieces of Me
by Ceiphied Knight
Summary: Bushroot returns for revenge, and Drake has a few questions for Corrine. Launchpad faces up to his old boss about what he's been doing in St. Canard, and all the while Fenton is stuck in the middle.


**DEATH & COMPANY INTERLUDE THREE: PIECES OF ME**

_"I am moody, messy_

_I get restless, and it's senseless_

_How you never seem to care._

_When I'm angry, you listen_

_Make me happy, it's your mission_

_And you won't stop till I'm there…"_

-Ashlee Simpson, _Pieces of Me_

* * *

><p>Corrine found herself wrapped obscenely around her husband, holding him so tightly that she wished he would just melt into her.<p>

Fenton had arrived home with bad news. Horrible, really. He had run into Bushroot _in Duckburg _and the mutant plant duck had accosted him, rambling on about Liquidator, blaming Gizmoduck for being party to murdering his friend. Gizmoduck had tried to explain that he actually had no idea what had become of the watery canine, but Bushroot wouldn't listen. He had attacked, and Gizmoduck's first instinct had been to stay and fight…but then his mind turned to his wife and daughter at home, and he'd fled. With Bushroot's power, with the possibility of every plant in Duckburg under his control, even Gizmoduck would be powerless. He had to stay away and keep the botanist looking for him, so that he wouldn't take his vengeance out on the entire city.

Corrine pulled Fenton into their bedroom. Hope was napping, so Corrine used the opportunity to throw her husband down onto their bed and basically have her way with him.

In the aftermath, sweaty and breathing heavily, Fenton choked out, "what was that for?"

"Just in case," Corrine said. She did not elaborate.

Fenton understood his wife's concerns. She was worried that he'd find himself in over his head, and become the next victim of some super villain. She never worried about him facing off against the Beagle Boys and their ilk, but Bushroot was in another league.

The St. Canard league.

Corrine laid her head on her husband's chest and listened as his heartbeat began to slow. He threw an arm around her and said, "I'm going to call in some help."

Suddenly, his wife jerked away from him, and stared at him with wild eyes. Her long hair was a tangle around her small frame, which Fenton would normally stop and admire, but her expression frightened him.

"Um…what?" he finally asked.

"You're going to call _him, _aren't you?" she said, her voice accusatory.

"Um," Fenton said, again. "If you mean Darkwing, then yes. Let's face it, he knows Bushroot better than anyone."

Corrine frowned, but said nothing.

"Look," Fenton continued, "I know you have some sort of problem with Drake. I don't really get it, but I accept it. As far as I'm concerned, we should all be friends. But if we want to get a crazed super villain out of our town, he's our best bet."

Several moments of uncomfortable silence passed, and Fenton was about to ask his wife what was going through her mind when she finally spoke.

"You're right," Corrine finally conceded. She laid down next to her husband once more.

After a few moments of companionable silence, Fenton asked, "So…what is it with you and Wingy, anyway?"

With a sigh, Corrine answered, "I have no idea."

* * *

><p>Fenton was cooing at his daughter as he placed her into her crib. Hope giggled up at him and kicked her little legs.<p>

When the doorbell rang, he heard Corrine yell, "I'll get it!" from somewhere else in the house.

Upon seeing Drake Mallard on her doorstep, the former pilot and current stay-at-home mom couldn't help but frown.

"Come on in," she said, civilly, stepping aside. "I'll let Fenton know you're here."

Drake stepped awkwardly into the room, and didn't particularly care for the tension in the air.

When Fenton had called him and asked for his help on a case in Duckburg, Drake had been surprised. It was very unlike one of them to actually ask for help from the other, but Fenton had insisted that something was happening that he needed Darkwing Duck's expertise on.

Feeling a bit smug, of course Drake had agreed.

"Launchpad, hurry up!" Drake snapped at his best friend and sidekick.

"Sorry, DW," Launchpad said through the mountain of luggage he was carrying as he stumbled over the threshold, "but I'd have been here sooner if you hadn't packed for a month!"

Corrine smiled at the pilot and said, "Hello, Launchpad! You know, you're a sidekick, not a bellhop."

The pilot grinned at her and said, "Aw, it's no big deal! I don't mind!"

Fenton came down the stairs and greeted his guests.

"Hiya, guys!" he said, cheerfully, as if this was just a visit from old college friends or some other such normal occurrence.

"Yeah, hi," Drake said, impatient as always. "Where and when did you last see Bushroot?"

"Maybe we should give that a rest until everyone gets settled?" Corrine interrupted before Fenton could even open his beak to reply. She ushered everyone into the living room and motioned to the couch and a set of chairs.

"Don't worry," she said, sarcasm dripping from every word, "None of our furniture spins."

A baby's cry from upstairs distracted Corrine from her ire. Without another word, she took off to tend to her daughter.

"Is Corrine feeling okay?" Launchpad asked, turning to address Fenton.

Fenton sighed heavily and explained, "I think she's just really worried. We don't get a lot of super villains here in Duckburg, and her last experience was a little traumatic. When I told her that Bushroot accosted me, I thought she was going to pass out. Then she jumped me and…er…" he trailed off, omitting that part of the story. "Anyway, just let her be. Corrine has her own way of dealing with things sometimes. She'll be fine once we thwart Bushroot and get him locked back up!"

"Yeeeeah," Drake drawled, "about that. Can you please explain to me _why_ Bushroot came to Duckburg and accosted you? You weren't very clear about it on the phone."

"That's the thing, it was all so weird!" Fenton said, "I was doing my rounds at the money bin when all of a sudden the guy jumped out from the ground! Just like that, like a badger or something!"

Drake assumed that Fenton meant "like a mole" but he didn't correct the other duck.

"Anyway," Fenton continued, "I was obviously surprised, but I immediately aimed a weapon at him and told him to halt! He just kept coming, screaming about me being a party to murder! As if Gizmoduck would ever murder someone! From what I could understand, he thought that you and I must have killed Liquidator back in St. Canard since the guy never went back to their hideout. He was looking at me with these crazy eyes, and I thought about standing up to him, but then I remembered how powerful he is and…well…I have a family to worry about, you know? I promised Corrine I would never take any unnecessary risks, so I took off. I made him chase me away from the bin and McDuck's home so that he wouldn't go there, and then when I got near the bay I ducked behind an abandoned factory and changed out of the Gizmosuit. By the time I saw him again, he was on the other side of the street, still looking for Gizmoduck. I just kept walking."

Fenton paused in his story, and then asked the one question that had been bothering him the most.

"What _did _happen to Liquidator, Drakerooni?"

"Don't call me that," Drake said on instinct, but there was no conviction behind his words. His mind was elsewhere, like back in his Tower in St. Canard.

"I…took care of the problem. Liquidator is safely locked away, and he won't ever be getting out."

Fenton let out a breath and said, "That's a relief! Maybe we can reason with Bushroot, tell him his friend is alive…"

"No," Drake interrupted, standing. "There will be no reasoning with the crazed super villain. Not this time. I'm done reasoning with that guy. Tomorrow, you're going to go to work at the bin and wait for Bushroot to show up again. Since that's the one place he knows he'll find you, it's a no-brainer. I'll be hiding nearby, and we'll take him out. End of story."

"L.P." Drake said, turning to address his sidekick, "I want you to go with Fenton and butter up Scrooge McDuck. See if he'll give me entry to the money bin tomorrow. I have an idea."

"Sure thing, D.W.," Launchpad said with a smile. Drake knew that the pilot was happy to be getting the chance to see his friend and former employer while they were in town.

"Come on, Launchpad," Fenton said, "Mr. McDuck should be home right now. I'm sure he'd love to see you, anyway. We'll go now so he has time to get used to the idea. Will you be okay here, Drakerooni?"

Drake nodded and Fenton and Launchpad took their leave in a hurry.

That's when Corrine came downstairs.

"What do you know?" Drake snapped at her, without so much as as hello.

Corrine stopped at the bottom of the stairs, her hand gripping the banister. She narrowed her eyes at him and answered, "Not as much as you, it seems."

They stared at each other for a long time. In the past, when Corrine had looked at Drake, she'd felt a strange sense of familiarity and felt very amiable toward him. This time, however, anger clouded her mind. After everything that had happened in St. Canard, and everything she had done to help, she was filled with indignation at his attitude and the way he was speaking to her.

Drake took two calming breaths and then asked, "What do you remember?"

"Remember?" Corrine repeated as if he were speaking some alien language. "What do you mean? I remember being attacked by a super villain the last time I was at your house…"

"The gas gun," Drake interrupted. "Focus. How did you know about the gas gun? You knew where it was, how to use it, and even what to say. You used a phrase that only I use. So, again, what do you remember?"

Corrine released her death grip on the banister and brushed past Drake. She walked to the couch and sat, lacing her hands together in her lap and looking down. She was silent for so long, in fact, that Drake was afraid she was never going to answer him.

Finally, though, she spoke.

"Are they memories?" she asked, rhetorically. "They come and go, like some shadow life I once lived. I don't know how I know, I just do. The moment Fenton and I stood in front of your house for the first time, or what logic dictated to me was the first time, I wanted to scream and run the other way. Because I knew everything about the house, almost as if I had lived there before. In that moment, I knew that you were Darkwing Duck. I knew that there was something funny about the chairs in your living room. I knew the layout of every room, and that's how I knew where to find the gas gun. Your room, in particular, was the most familiar. Some things even seemed wrong to me. I felt like there should have been a second nightstand, and a dresser against the far wall instead of just your wardrobe. But as soon as the images surface, they're gone again in an instant. There is never anything solid enough to grab onto."

She paused and looked up at Drake, anger flooding her face. Her eyes shone with unshed tears, though Drake couldn't tell if they were from frustration, anger, sadness or all of the above.

"You!" she snapped at him, as if the word were an expletive. "When I saw you before, at the wedding, I was just being polite because I knew you were Fenton's friend. But then, at one point while we were dancing, you suddenly became _so much more familiar _that it was frightening and confusing. I still felt…well, I felt that I liked you. But at your house, after all of the flashes of memories or whatever and all of the drama we experienced…now I have this terrible feeling that you're going to ruin everything!"

Drake opened his beak to respond, but Corrine rose from the couch and stormed over to him. Getting right up in his face, she was screaming now, "You just couldn't leave well enough alone! I'm HAPPY, damn it! Or at least I _was _happy until you showed up! I have a husband and a daughter! I have a whole life here! I've lived my life until now trying to stay beneath the radar so that I could have these things_, _but then I had to go and fall in love with some goddamn _super heroes!"_

Drake noticed that she had said "super heroes," as in plural, but Corrine didn't seem to realize what she had said.

"But at least Fenton stays pretty safe here in Duckburg!" Corrine raged on. "I don't have to worry about him just guarding the money bin and running errands for McDuck. But YOU and this DISEASE you've brought with you from St. Canard! How DARE you come into my home and act like I'm the one who has done something wrong!"

Then Corrine deflated as if everything she'd said had been holding her up from the inside and was now depleted. She looked down at the ground, almost as if embarrassed, and slowly moved back over to the sofa. She flopped down and did not look at Drake again.

Drake was rendered speechless. His worst fear had been confirmed, in that he had affected Corrine's life so much in the other timeline that she remembered some things, even though it seemed to be on a completely subconscious level.

And of course she would be angry with him. After everything he'd put her through, even though she didn't recall the details, those feelings still had to linger.

And yet, though Drake knew he should feel ashamed, he was more amazed than anything.

Because, even though she had died protecting him and Gosalyn in the other timeline, she had never let on that she was angry about it. She had only seemed angry when he'd put himself in danger again to try and save her.

But of course she had to have felt a bit resentful. No one is that selfless. Corrine certainly wasn't perfect, and she had her fair share of…issues. Things that she'd spent weeks and months discussing with Drake as she lay in his arms. Things that she had obviously hidden from him after she had decided that she'd rather just die. But even after he'd brought her back, she'd never let on that she was actually upset with him. But now, overflowing with emotions that she didn't necessarily know the origins of, it was all becoming very clear that there were things she'd covered up in the other timeline.

And he had never once stopped to question why she still seemed so happy and content and in love with him, even after everything she'd been through.

Drake felt like a marvelous ass for not seeing it sooner. He was supposed to be a detective, yet he never saw what was right under his own beak.

Corrine was a fabulous actress. So good, in fact, that Tuskernini would probably be impressed.

But here, in this timeline, she wasn't as guarded. She didn't have to be with Fenton, or at least Drake assumed that that was the case. Fenton was scrupulous and honest.

He was better for her, it seemed.

Finally admitting that fact cut deeper than Drake had realized it would. After all this time, he thought he was over it. Over her. For the most part, he was, but the guilt lingered. The guilt that had driven him to bring her back, and then to change time for her.

Had it ever really been for her? Or had it just been to assuage his own guilt?

Slowly and quietly, Drake walked over and sat next to her on the couch.

They both sat with their backs perfectly straight, staring blankly ahead. The space between them might as well have been miles.

Neither of them moved. They barely breathed.

Finally, Drake whispered, "I'm sorry."

Corrine stood in a move so fast that it startled Drake. Without looking at him, she said, "Sorry doesn't even begin to cover it."

Then she stormed out of the room.

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


End file.
